My Best Advice
by DawnGyocry
Summary: Antonio only wanted to join the Mentor-Mentee program at his school to get out of class. The last thing he expected was to be paired up with a hot-headed Italian. And he never dreamed that maybe he would actually start to care about him too.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't normally write multi-chapter stories, and this one will be written in a different style than what I'm used too, but when I got the idea for the story, I really wanted to give it a try. Any helpful criticism is always appreciated. Thank you for reading. :)**

**Warnings: Language**

**Disclaimer: Hetalia and characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya. All rights reserved.**

* * *

This was unbelievably stupid. Lovino gritted his teeth painfully together to keep himself from spitting a number of colorful words. Oh sure. They said this would be good for him. Would help him adjust. It most certainly would not be absolutely humiliating, absurdly pointless, or damaging to his pride in any way shape or form. Sure. Right.

Unfortunately, Lovino wasn't given much choice in the matter.

* * *

"No, seriously guys, check this out!" Antonio gushed loudly, pushing an obnoxiously bright flyer into the faces of his two best friends. "This could be the best thing ever! It's like a get-out-of-class-free card!"

"What? That sounds too good to be true!" Gilbert exclaimed in response, snatching the flyer from Antonio's hands to get a better look.

"Hmm, indeed it does, _mon ami._" Francis agreed with a skeptical look and also looked down at the flyer that was now in Gilbert's much too excited grip. Gilbert's expression quickly grew confused as he read the flyer while Francis's grew more skeptical. "The mentor-mentee program?"

"Yeah," Antonio nodded excitedly. "You know how we always hear those announcements over the intercom about it? Well, now that we're in our senior year, we can actually be a part of it if we want!"

"Awesome!" Gilbert agreed enthusiastically. "Don't they always get to skip class and go on field trips? That _is _like a get-out-of-class-free card!"

"Exactly!"

The three friends sat at the overly crowded lunch table of their high school cafeteria. On the first day of school, the cafeteria schedule was always a mess. The first lunch period would be too full, the next would be too empty. It always seemed to take the school at least a week to get it all sorted out. The three of them had been excited to have gotten the same lunch period, and hoped it wouldn't change in the next week. Antonio took the flyer back and smoothed it against the grey cafeteria table.

"It would be the perfect way to make senior year the best ever!" Antonio continued excitedly.

"I don't know about that," Francis said. "Isn't this program for, you know, _mentoring _people? I'm not sure a program made for helping sad little kids was really meant as a 'get-out-of-class-free card.'"

"Oh, don't be such a killjoy, Francis," Gilbert scoffed. "It's not like anyone actually takes it seriously. Every _does _just use it to get out of class. I mean, c'mon. Who really thinks pairing a teenager up with a middle-school kid honestly _helps _anything? I'm with Antonio, man. I think this sounds awesome."

"Right!" Antonio beamed at Gilbert. "It just says here to talk to the Dean of Students in the Middle School office sometime this week and they'll pair you up with whichever student they think you fit best with. I was thinking of heading there during student break today."

"Great! I'll go with you!" Gilbert said with a grin that somehow seemed to large for his face.

Antonio's own smile faltered. "Um, I'm not sure if they'd let you do it, though.

"What? Why?" Gilbert asked, looking appalled.

"Well, they sorta check your record to see if you're suitable to be a mentor," Antonio explained, a sheepish smile on his face. "You know, to make sure you won't be a bad influence on the little kids or anything…"

"And you, _mon cher,_ do not have to cleanest track record," Francis finished.

"What?" Gilbert said, affronted. "What is wrong with my record?"

"Dude, not even counting all the detentions you've gotten, you came to school wasted, snuck into the main office, went on the intercom and sang the Prussian national anthem before puking all over the principle's desk and passing out." Antonio replied, exasperated. "I was surprised all you got was a suspension."

"As was I, " Francis agreed over Gilbert's noisy objections before returning his attention to Antonio with a disapproving look. "Well, _mon ami, _I will not stop you from doing this if you really want to, but I think maybe you should reconsider your reasons for doing so first." Antonio rolled his eyes before Francis finished with, "Because, I do not think this will be as easy and fun as you are anticipating."

* * *

The next class went just about the same as the first three that day. Antonio sat with a painfully bored expression that matched the rest of his classmates' nearly perfectly as the teacher at the front of the room went over her syllabus, which was, of course, identical to the other three Antonio had already gotten that day. At least the first day of school each year was easy. After an hour of severe boredom and the sweltering, sticky heat that always clogged up the school's air during the first few weeks of school, class was let out for student break.

Antonio grinned and walked briskly out the door of the classroom, not even bother to drop his books off at his locker, before making his way to the Middle School. In the small town where the school resided, there was only really enough space for two small schools. One was the Elementary School, which was about a mile down the road, while the other was a small, single story building that made up both the Middle School and High School, which were only separated by a small hallway in the middle of the building. Because of this, the school had been able to set up the mentor-mentee program in the first place, as it meant there was essentially no travel involved for any of the students.

Antonio was fairly relieved that the middle school classes were still in session as he walked to the other end of the school where the office was. He didn't really like the idea of wading through a sea of ten to fourteen year olds, especially in the school's tiny hallways. And heat. Which was somehow worse in this end of the school where the children were just hitting puberty and hadn't yet learned how to properly wear a thing called deodorant.

When Antonio reached the office and opened the door, a rush of cool air swept across his face. A twinge of annoyance pulled on his expression unpleasantly. Of course they would have the office air conditioned. Leave the kids to melt while the adults got the nice working conditions. Sure. Antonio stepped into the office and walked up to the receptionist at the main desk.

"Hi," Antonio started rather awkwardly. The elderly woman at the desk looked up from her computer curiously. Antonio held up the mentor-mentee flyer. "I'm here for the mentor-mentee program. Is there a place where I should sign up or…?"

The woman smiled brightly and said, "Oh, of course, dear! If you would just go to the Dean's room around the corner, he'll get everything set up for you."

"Okay, thanks," Antonio said with a smile and walked to the room the receptionist had pointed out. Antonio spotted the middle aged man at his desk and stood awkwardly by the door for a brief moment, unsure if he should just walk into the office or knock on an open door. He settled for letting out a small cough to get the man's attention.

The man jumped a bit before spinning his swivel chair to face Antonio in the doorway. "Come in, come in," the Dean said kindly, waving his hand towards an empty chair in the room. Antonio quickly walked to the chair, sat down, and set his books on the floor beside him. "So, you're interested in being a mentor?"

Antonio nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I thought it would be a lot of fun." After a brief pause, he quickly added, "And, y'know, it'd be nice to make a difference."

The Dean nodded approvingly. "It's nice to see kids wanting to really help. I feel like there's getting to be less of that these days. Kids only care about partying or skipping class it seems," the Dean sighed, and Antonio tried to keep his face from showing any guilt. The Dean quickly reached into his desk and pulled out a piece of paper. He placed it on the small table next to the chair Antonio was seated in. "This is just a form so we can get some of your contact information and a bit of an idea of your personality, so we can pair you with the mentee we think will be the best fit," the man explained with a smile.

Antonio returned the smile and picked up the pencil he had brought along with his books. He quickly filled in the spaces for his name, email, and phone number, before slowing down to look at the rest of the paper. It was mostly a basic survey of what hobbies he liked and some basic background information about him and his family, such as which languages were spoken most at home. He wrote his answers hastily before handing the sheet of paper back to the Dean.

The Dean took the paper and stood up, extending his hand. Antonio hurriedly stood up as well and took the man's hand and gave him a firm handshake. "Thank you," the Dean quickly glanced at Antonio's name on the paper, "Antonio. We'll be sorting through all the possible mentors and mentees this week and should have everything figured out by the end of the week. If you could stop by the office sometime on Friday, I'll let you know if we've found a good match for you."

"Thank you very much, sir," Antonio said, picking up his books. "I'll see you then."

* * *

The first week of school went by almost dizzyingly fast. The school still hadn't figured out the cafeteria situation, much to everyone's displeasure, and didn't sound like it was going to until the end of the next week. The heat in the classrooms was still sweltering, causing many teachers to attempt to book the air conditioned library to hold their classes, which was at least a small relief. Gilbert had already managed to land himself a detention, Francis was being surprisingly studious, especially when it came to his art and design classes, and Antonio was struggling to stay awake for most of his classes, since he wasn't yet used to waking up so early each morning for school. Before he knew it, Friday had rolled around and Antonio found himself back in the Middle School Dean's office.

"So, how was your first week back at school?" the Dean asked him as he took a seat across the table from Antonio.

"Good, sir," Antonio answered. "A bit fast though."

"Oh, I know what you mean," the Dean replied with a tired smile. "But at least it's been a good fast, right?"

Antonio nodded with a grin. It was pretty good to be back to seeing his friends every day. "So have you figured everything out with the mentees?" he asked. "Is there one that's a good match for me?"

"Yes, I believe there is," the Dean answered, and Antonio felt his smile stretch wider. Looked like he was getting into the program all right. But his smile faltered as the Dean continued with a too serious face. "But you should know, the mentee we have for you is a bit of a special case."

Antonio felt a wave of anxiety roll over him for this first time. "How so?" he asked nervously.

"Well, first of all, he won't be a Middle School student like the rest," the Dean said. "He's a High School freshman this year. We don't normally all High School students to be mentees, but with his case, we made an exception."

Antonio processed the information and felt his anxiety simmer down considerably. That wouldn't be too bad. If anything, it would make his job easier since he wouldn't need to walk to the Middle School all the time. "Is that all?"

"No," the Dean sighed. "He's also just recently moved to America from Italy. He's been having a hard time adjusting, so we thought it would be good for him to be in this program. The only problem is, he only speaks Italian."

"Wait, what?" Antonio sputtered. He felt his anxiety leap abruptly back into his chest, with reinforcements.

"Since you had written on your form that you were fluent in Spanish, we thought maybe you could understand him best, since Spanish is similar to Italian," the Dean quickly explained, seeing the panicked look on Antonio's face.

Antonio couldn't believe it. Sure, Spanish was _similar _to Italian, but it was a far cry from being the exact same language. And he sure as hell couldn't speak Italian. More fits of nerves swam under his skin. Maybe Francis had been right about this whole thing. "S-so, you're saying he doesn't understand _any _English?"

"No," the Dean reassured quickly. "We're told by his grandfather that he's actually fluent in English. It just seems that he's refusing to speak it." The Dean scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "At least, we're hoping that's the case. Hopefully this experience will be able to encourage him to try speaking English at school."

Well, that was a _bit _better. But still. Antonio was suddenly regretting the whole thing. Sure he'd expecting a bit of work since the program was for troubled kids after all, but he'd never expected anything like this. Why couldn't he just get an easy assignment like everybody else? He forced himself to swallow a sigh. Well, it wasn't like he could back out now that all the paperwork and everything was finished. His unreleased sigh felt thick in his throat.

"Well, okay," Antonio finally managed after calming himself down a bit. "Is there anything else I need to know?" he added warily.

"Nothing else outside the ordinary," the Dean assured. Antonio smiled weakly in relief before the Dean continued, describing the things Antonio would need to do as a Mentor. "You will need to meet up with your Mentee at least once a week. This can be anytime that works well for you. Just ask the office for a pass when you would like to find your Mentee. It would be best if you could find a time that doesn't disrupt your mentee's schedule too much, though. All you need to do is talk, or if you want you can bring something for the two of you to do. The main point is to become something like a friendly role model and get comfortable with each other. For the first meeting, we usually supply a paper with some random questions on it that can serve as icebreakers."

That at least sounded a bit more like what Antonio was expecting out of the whole ordeal. That kind of thing would be fun. His 'get-out-of-class-free card' as he had put it earlier.

"There will also be Mentor-Mentee breakfasts the first Monday of every month," the Dean continued. "Just come to the Middle School cafeteria on those mornings and there will be activities set up for you and your mentee so the two of you can get to know other pairs in the program and spend more time together. Lastly, there will be three field trips you will take with your Mentee. One in the fall, winter, and spring. Don't worry, the school will pay for it, and you'll get plenty of notice ahead of time. All you need to do is show up. Does that all sound good?"

Antonio nodded dizzily. Well, most of that had sounded much more like he had been anticipating when he signed up for this, but suddenly all he could think of was spending all that time with someone who couldn't - or wouldn't - speak in any language he could understand.

"Oh, and the only other thing - and I really shouldn't even have to say this - is to respect your mentee's privacy. Please don't share anything he doesn't want to be shared and don't speak much of your meetings." The Dean shuffled through some papers in front of him, pulled out a few and handed them to Antonio. "This is your Mentee's class schedule, so you will know where to find him throughout the day, as well as some activities and icebreakers for you to try if you wish. The first Mentor-Mentee breakfast is this Monday, and you'll get to meet your Mentee then. And thanks again for doing this, Antonio. I know you can really make a difference for him."

And with that, Antonio was left feeling utterly overwhelmed as he left the Dean's office and headed back towards the High School. He shakily looked through the papers he had been given. Two of them where just conversation suggestions and interest questions that he could use when he met his mentee. The third was his mentee's class schedule. His mentee's name was printed in bold letters across the top of the page.

Lovino Vargas.

* * *

"He can't even speak English?" Francis repeated incredulously.

The three friends stood in the almost deserted afterschool hallways. Francis and Gilbert had, naturally, cornered Antonio and begged him to tell them all about his new job as a mentor.

"Well, I guess he _can, _but he just _doesn't_," Antonio explained, sighing loudly.

"Haha, sucks to be you," Gilbert laughed loudly.

"Shut up, Gilbert," Antonio glared at his light-haired friend. "At least I don't have to sit in detention for two hours tonight." This of course, earned his own glare from Gilbert.

"I hate to say I told you so, _mon ami_," Francis started dramatically.

"Then don't," Antonio said, preventing him from finishing. "Though you were probably right," he admitted sourly.

"Hmm, what did you say his name was, again?" Francis asked.

"Lovino. Lovino Vargas."

Francis hummed in thought before saying, "I can't say the name Lovino rings a bell, but Vargas certainly does."

"Really?" Antonio asked, surprised.

"Yes. Apparently there's an eighth grader named Feliciano Vargas that just moved here from Italy as well. They must be brothers," Francis mused. "He's been making quite a stir in the art department. The art teachers are all in a tizzy about how great the kid is. Nothing short of a prodigy, I hear. There's even been talk of letting him take the advanced High School art classes." Antonio felt his eyebrows pull up, impressed. "But," Francis added with a shrug, "I have never heard anything of this 'Lovino.'"

"Well," Antonio said with another sigh, "hopefully he won't be as hard to deal with as everyone seems to expect."

* * *

Monday came too quickly. Antonio shifted his weight nervously from one foot to another as he waited outside the doors of the Middle School cafeteria. The Mentees were already inside the cafeteria being instructed by the program supervisors. Until they had all the mentees in place with signs with their mentor's names on them, Antonio and the rest of his fellow mentors were told to wait outside the doors until they were opened for them.

In all, there were about twenty-some mentors. Antonio wasn't sure if this made him feel better or worse. He was comforted though, when he saw some student's in his grade that he certainly wouldn't have pegged as a mentor. At least he wasn't the only who looked out of place. Antonio jumped when the doors of the cafeteria finally opened and they were called in.

The mentors shuffled their way into the relatively small cafeteria. The children inside the room stood nervously with signs of their mentors names written on them. They all looked fairly drawn in, with hunched shoulders and tired eyes. Antonio felt a yank on his heart and began looking for a sign with his name on it, which was surprisingly hard to do, considering there weren't all that many students to choose from. Though the reason for the difficulty of his search was quickly made clear.

Wedged far into the back corner of the cafeteria, stood a young teenager who looked slightly older than the rest of the children in the room. His dark auburn hair hung slightly over his face which was pulled into an unfriendly scowl. He had one hand shoved forcefully in his jeans pocket while the other limply held a sign down by his side. Antonio frowned. That must be Lovino then, since all the other children appeared to have already found their mentor.

Antonio hesitantly made his way over to the scowling teenager. Great. He just _had _to get the only kid in the room who looked positively livid about being there. Certainly, the other children all looked nervous, and quite honestly, pretty sad, but at least they were smiling, however sad or small their smiles were. As he drew closer, he managed to glimpse his name scrawled on the sign that the sour faced kid was holding in a way that almost seemed like he was trying to hide it all together. This was definitely Lovino, then. When he reached the dark haired teenager, he stood awkwardly for a moment, before forcing a smile to his face. The kid however, still refused to look up from the floor.

"Lovino?" Antonio asked, sounding as cheerful as he could.

The young teen finally looked up, his hazel eyes digging into Antonio's. Antonio tried to ignore the angry look and held out his hand with a smile. "I'm Antonio! It's nice to meet you!"

In return, Antonio was suddenly met with a loud, angry stream of Italian. Antonio blinked at the sudden barrage of undecipherable words, though there were a few that Antonio didn't even need to bother translating to understand. Words like '_idiota_' and '_bastardo_' for example.

Antonio felt his smile falter as he awkwardly dropped his extended hand, while the angry Italian boy, whom was now his mentee for the next nine months, glared at him accusingly.

What had he gotten himself into?


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again :)**

**I just want to say thank you to any and all feedback I get on this story! I'm sorry if I don't reply to each review individually. I'm actually quite horrible at talking to people, and I'm usually unsure what to say, but please know that they mean a _lot _to me, and I thank you all very much!**

**Also, I'm hoping to update this fairly frequently. Hopefully about once a week or so. But between work, the University, and life in general, there may be the occasional delay. Hopefully you'll be able to put up with me. :)**

* * *

Antonio sat uncomfortably across the small table from Lovino. After their awkward introduction, Lovino had simply turned away from him and had walked over to the smallest table in the cafeteria, far away from where all the other mentor-mentee pairs were getting to know each other. Knowing that he probably had no other choice, Antonio had followed. For the past five or so minutes, the two had sat in painful silence while Antonio stared uneasily at his mentee and Lovino stared adamantly out the large cafeteria windows.

"So, how do you like it here?" Antonio finally tried, unable to bear more silence. "Is it as nice as Italy?" Lovino finally looked away from the window long enough to shoot him a sharp look before flickering his eyes back outside. "I'll take that as a 'no'," Antonio sighed under his breath. Another tense silence fell. Antonio fidgeted and glanced down at the list of conversation starters that he had set on the table. Well, it was worth a try, right?

And try he did. One by one, Antonio went down the list of suggested topics, prattling on about each one, hoping something, _anything_, would get a reaction out of Lovino. But after twenty minutes of his own admittedly rather stupid monologue, the only change in Lovino's demeanor was an increasingly annoyed look as he stubbornly refused to remove his eyes from the window. By the time Antonio reached the end of the list of topics, there were, he painfully noted, a good thirty minutes to go of the breakfast, and Antonio was quite frankly beginning to wonder if Lovino even understood a single word he said. Antonio eyed Lovino nervously. Maybe if he could get a reaction out of Lovino, he could at least know if he understood him.

"Why are you ignoring me? Can't look at me because I'm so irresistibly sexy, you don't know what to do with yourself?" _That _worked. Lovino violently whirled around, expression appalled and face growing bright red. "So you _can _understand me," Antonio sighed, resting his chin on his hand with a frown. Lovino looked like he was trying to unruffle himself and angrily looked back to the window, his face still deep red. Antonio sighed again, breathing heavily from his nose. "Fine. If you won't talk to me in English, I'll just have to talk to you in Spanish. See how you like it, not being able to understand."

But after ten minutes of talking in Spanish, much to Antonio's frustration, Lovino had simply gone back to looking both bored and annoyed. Antonio ran a hand through his hair, stress getting the better of him. He jealously glanced over at the other mentor-mentee pairs. Some were chatting while they ate while others played some games that had been set up, but all of them were smiling and having fun. Except of course, Antonio and Lovino. Antonio felt his uncharacteristic frown pull even deeper over his face as he found himself staring at his mentee again. Most of the mentees looked fairly poor, with old clothes and dirty hair. Lovino, on the other hand, wore clothes that looked extremely expensive, cut to his shape perfectly and had that 'designer brand' look to them. Antonio wondered if he was rich, or just really cared about how he looked. But he couldn't know because Lovino was still refusing to even _look _at him. The only reaction Antonio had gotten out of him so far was that one crazy, blushing look.

Antonio groaned. "Why won't you just talk to me. It'll be easier on us both if you do," he whined. Lovino's expression remained unreadable. Antonio dramatically splayed his arms across the table. "Augh, c'mon, Lovi."

"Don't call me that, bastard!"

Antonio blinked and felt his mouth fall slack. Lovino looked just as surprised as he did about his sudden outburst. Lovino shoved a hand over his mouth as his face grew deep red again and he sunk into himself, drawing his shoulders around his ears. Antonio felt like his cheeks would split from the smile that burst onto them.

"You _can_ talk!" Antonio beamed, holding his arms out wide. Lovino buried his red face in his hands. "You're English is very good!" he reassured. And it was. Though Lovino's accent was definitely thick enough to reflect that he probably hadn't used it all that much throughout his life.

Lovino buried his face into his hands and mumbled something. Whether it was in Italian or English, Antonio wasn't entirely sure, as the younger's voice was muffled by his palms. But Antonio smiled across the table at him nonetheless. If he had been able to get Lovino to speak in English once, he was sure he could do it again. At least he knew for a fact that Lovino even could speak English, and that was a start.

Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

* * *

"So how did it go?" Francis asked, poking at his school lunch disdainfully.

Antonio shrugged. "Okay. He doesn't say much."

"Doff he effen shpeak Engesh?"Gilbert asked through a mouthful of food. Francis swatted him on the back of the head. After what looked like a painful swallow, Gilbert tried again. "Does he even speak in English?"

"Well," Antonio shifted uncomfortably, "Not really. I got him to speak it once, and he knows what I'm saying… but he's being stubborn. "

Francis hummed and rested his chin in his hands. "As much as I still think this is your own fault, _mon ami, _I'm willing to help." He gave Antonio a pointed look. "Because I am a good friend."

"And I'm twice as awesome as Francis, so I'll help too!" Gilbert chimed in.

"Though you may do better not listening to him," Francis added.

Antonio smiled weakly. "Thanks guys. I just hope this gets easier." He leaned back and stuck his fork deep into the mush that was apparently food. "If I can only get him to _talk, _then at least this whole thing will be bearable."

"Well, how did you get him to talk last time?" Gilbert asked, slurping on his soda.

"I made him mad," Antonio admitted with a sheepish grin.

"Somehow, I do not think that is what you are supposed to be doing," Francis said, arching an eyebrow.

"I know," Antonio groaned, taking a forceful bite into his lunch. Through a mouthful of food he added, "And that just brings me back to square one. How am I supposed to get him to talk if the only way I know how is by doing something I'm not supposed to?"

"I do not know," Francis shrugged dramatically and sighed, shaking his head. He appeared to have given up on his lunch altogether and had settled for sipping on a diet soda. After a quiet moment of thought Francis asked, "What does he look like? If he's in the high school, then we'll probably see him around, too, _oui_?"

"Well, he's got dark reddish brown hair and wears really nice clothes," Antonio described rather vaguely. "And he always looks like he's mad about something."

"Sorta like that guy?" Gilbert asked, pointing to the back corner of the cafeteria. Antonio followed Gilbert's eyes. Sure enough, a familiar sour faced Italian was sitting alone on the floor, wedged as far as he could be into the corner of the room and glaring accusingly at the food in his hands.

"Exactly like that guy," Antonio replied, grimacing.

"Oooohh, he's kind of cute, _oui?_" Francis cooed, a dangerous smile on his face.

"Francis, you think everything that moves is cute," Antonio reminded him."And besides, weren't you planning on focusing on your design classes this year and not on dating?" Though Antonio really doubted Francis was planning on sticking to that goal.

"Of course!" Francis agreed. "But just because I do not plan on dating doesn't mean I can't appreciate beauty when I see it!"

"Of course," Antonio sighed, defeated. Well he certainly hoped that were the case anyway. Not that he'd ever tell Francis, but he and Gilbert had bet on whether or not he could go a year without dating, and he'd rather not cough up any of his scarce money to his German friend.

"You gunna invite him over here?" Gilbert asked, already beginning to dig into his dessert. How Gilbert ever ate so fast, Antonio was never sure.

"Why?" he asked, making a face. "I'm still trying to recover from this morning."

Francis tutted. "You're being unusually mean, _mon ami_."

Antonio frowned. "I'm not trying to be _mean_. I just need a break for a bit. My nerves can only handle so much at once."

"Alright," Francis shrugged. "But you cannot avoid him forever."

"Can we just drop this?" Antonio asked, getting annoyed. It was bad enough he'd have to deal with this kid on a weekly basis. He really didn't want to think about it more than he had to.

"Sure thing," Gilbert said before Francis could say anything. And he looked like he wanted to say more. Antonio shot Gilbert a grateful look. "So, have either of you checked out that hot new exchange student from Hungary?"

* * *

Unlike the first week of school, the second went by agonizingly slow. Though Antonio had yet to having another meeting with Lovino, Francis constantly gave him pointed looks and disapproving frowns as Antonio kept making excuses to avoid Lovino. But, Antonio hated to admit, he was beginning to feel guilty about ignoring his mentee during lunch. Every day the boy sat alone in the corner of the overly crowded cafeteria, eating his lunch with an ever present scowl. And not once did anyone bother to talk to him.

On the third day since the horrendously awkward breakfast, Lovino noticed Antonio in the same lunch. Antonio had glanced over to the corner where Lovino sat - an unfortunate habit he'd quickly developed - to find Lovino staring at him with a mix of emotions that were difficult to read. The only emotion Antonio could successfully pick out of the bitter face was anger. The rest were too clouded over to make out. Antonio had quickly looked away after the brief eye contact and was careful not to look that way for the rest of the lunch period, though he couldn't shake the feeling that Lovino was still glaring at him.

By time Friday rolled around, Antonio wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep the rest of the weekend away. But he knew that before he could, he'd finally have to face his crabby mentee one more time. He hadn't met with him outside a scheduled meeting yet that week. And so he found himself walking down the halls in search of Lovino's fourth period classroom, his mentee's schedule in one hand and a pass from his math teacher in the other. After all, if he had to do this, he might as well at least get out of his least favorite class.

It turned out that Lovino's fourth period class was English. Antonio couldn't help but laugh in exasperation at the irony. He double checked the classroom to the classroom listed on Lovino's schedule one last time before putting on a smile and knocking on the door. After a short moment the door was opened by a student. The teacher looking at Antonio questioningly. And also a little annoyed.

"Is Lovino here?" Antonio asked with a polite smile. "May I take him out of class for a bit?"

The teacher frowned, but nodded and glanced to the back of the room. Antonio turned to see Lovino sitting, not surprisingly, the back corner of the room. He looked absolutely furious too, Antonio noted uneasily. His face was deep red as he pulled himself up from his chair, grabbing his books. He walked surprisingly quickly to where Antonio was before grabbing Antonio's wrist and dragging him away from the classroom.

Antonio stumbled in surprise as Lovino hauled him away from the classroom. "Ah, Lovino," Antonio said, after regaining his footing. His nerves once again beginning to do dangerous things under his skin at the furious look on his mentee's red face. "I thought this would be a good time for a meeting. A-and I thought maybe we could chat out by the courtyard of something."

Lovino nodded sharply and roughly pulled his hand away from Antonio's wrist once they were a few meters away from the classroom. The Italian didn't slow his pace as he walked towards the courtyard door. Antonio had to skip-walk to keep in stride and found himself wondering how someone shorter than him could walk so fast without jogging. The second they walked out into the courtyard, Lovino whirled around angrily, facing Antonio.

"Don't ever do that again, stupid bastard," Lovino practically yelled and turned to stomp over to the bend that sat under a large statue of the globe. He dropped his books roughly on the ground beside him.

Antonio stood awkwardly in place for a moment, surprised, before he walked over and sat next to Lovino under the globe. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Antonio was at least relived that Lovino was using English. Even if he was only using it to yell at him. He scratched the back of his head and said, "I'm sorry, Lovino." He paused awkwardly. "But I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong." He tried to smile apologetically, but it ended up looking more like a grimace.

Lovino looked at him incredulously. "Don't call me out of class like that, bastard." He muttered and pulled his feet up onto the bench. He put his arms on his knees and his face in the crooks of his elbows. His face was still a bit flushed.

Another awkward pause. "Why?" Antonio asked. "That's what I'm supposed to do."

"Well don't do it anyway," Lovino snapped. His hands formed fists on his knees. "It's bad enough I have to be in this stupid program. I don't need you coming into my classes and broadcasting it to the whole school."

"You don't want to be in the program?" Antonio repeated, confused. "I thought it was optional."

"My grandpa made me," Lovino mumbled into his sleeves.

Antonio sighed and leaned on the backrest of the bench and looked up at the large cast iron globe towering over them. "Well," he said, "if you're in it, you might as well make the best of it." He smiled over at young Italian. "It's better than making the worst out of it, right?" Lovino buried his face deeper into his arms and mumbled something Antonio couldn't quite make out. Antonio just smiled a bit wider and ruffled Lovino's hair. The younger tensed but didn't move to shake him off. "I'm just happy you're actually talking to me this time!"

Antonio saw Lovino's ears grow pink again. After that, Lovino made a point of not talking for the rest of the hour while Antonio chatted on about nothing.

* * *

"Welcome home, Lovi!" Lovino heard his brother call as his stepped inside their new home. He jumped a bit. He always forgot that since the Middle School was let out a bit earlier than the High School, his brother would be home before him.

"Hey, Feli," he replied while shrugging off his backpack. He felt a small smile work its way onto his face. It was always a relief to get back home where he could talk in Italian and not have to worry about translating everything everyone said to him in his head first. Feliciano bounded up to him and tackled him in a hug. Lovino grumbled in protest but hugged his younger brother back, feeling his lips tug into a larger smile.

"How was school?" Feliciano asked when he pulled out of the hug. "And are you hungry? I already started making pasta! Grandpa said it was a bit too early for pasta, but the lunches at school are so icky I can hardly eat any of it so I get hungry. And I thought maybe you had the same problem so I made pasta extra early!"

"You're right about sucky food," Lovino replied, used to his brother's barrage of questions at this point in his life. "I think they're trying to poison their own damn students." Feliciano nodded furiously in agreement. "But school itself was the same as always," he added, answering his brother's first question. Feliciano hummed in reply and trotted to the kitchen to go back to stirring the pasta. Lovino followed and sat down at one of the tall chairs at the counter and watched his brother cook. And could he cook.

"What about your mentor person?" Feliciano asked as he poked the noodles to test their consistency. "Isn't he supposed to talk to you once a week or something. What's his name again. I forget. It was Spanish, right?"

Lovino groaned and put his head down on the countertop. "The stupid bastard called me out of class. I hate this stupid thing." He felt old resentment bubble up inside him. And the familiar embarrassment at having been forced to join something meant for little kids. "Why did Grandpa have to make me do this?"

"He's just worried about you," Feliciano said, his bright smile dropping a bit.

"Whatever," Lovino mumbled bitterly. He reached for a tomato that sat in a bowl on the counter and took a large bite. He thought about Antonio. He wasn't the worst person he could have been paired up with, Lovino reluctantly admitted to himself. Even if he was way too oblivious and smiled to damn much. But as long as it was with him, then maybe this whole stupid ordeal wouldn't be quite as unbearable as he had originally thought.

But that still didn't mean he'd enjoy it.


	3. Chapter 3

**I must say, Romano is much easier for me to write than Spain. But I do try my best with both of them.**

**Once again, thank you for any/all feedback and reviews. I cannot even describe how much it makes me happy and how seeing alerts in my inbox makes my day. :)**

* * *

"Oooh, what have we here?"

"Shove over, Francis. You're blocking my awesomeness. And my view."

"What are you guys looking at?" Antonio asked, walking up to his two friends, who were crouched over the drinking fountain near the High School office. Francis and Gilbert straitened and greeted Antonio as he walked over.

"New lunch schedule is up," Gilbert answered, gesturing with his thumb to a flyer above the drinking fountain.

"Oh," Antonio leaned over the fountain for a closer look. He squinted, scrolling through the small font that listed all the student's names and which lunch period they were now assigned to. "We still together?"

"_We _are," Francis said, gesturing to himself and Gilbert. He gave Antonio a sympathetic look. "But you're not. Sorry, _mon cher_.

Antonio felt his mouth pull into a pout. Gilbert clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Cheer up, buddy! You won't be alone! A friend of yours is also in that lunch!"

"Who?" Antonio frowned, confused. Sure, he got along with most people just fine, but Francis and Gilbert were really his only friends. An impish smirk grew on Gilbert's face and Francis looked both amused and sly.

"A certain Freshman by the name of Lovino Vargas," Francis answered.

Antonio couldn't suppress a groan. "Really?"

"Now, now, _mon ami_," Francis closed his eyes and shook his head disapprovingly, raising his open palms to his shoulders. "I still think you're being rather …_unkind_ about this whole affair. You were the one who signed up for this."

"Yeah, dude," Gilbert nodded. "Even _I _feel kinda bad for the kid, eating by himself like that. And that's saying something. The awesome me doesn't waste sympathy you know!" His expression turned serious for a rare instant. "But seriously. You got no one else to sit with, so what's it hurt?"

Antonio scratched at his hair and let out another small grown, this time at the guilt that began gnawing at his stomach due to his friends words. They were right of course, but why did Lovino have to be so _difficult_? He still hardly even talked to him.

"Okay, okay," Antonio sighed. Francis nodded approvingly and Gilbert grinned. The warning bell rang and Antonio glanced at the clock. Just over three hours till lunch. It wouldn't be _so _bad, right? After all, hadn't he just been thinking to himself how Lovino had gotten easier to deal with after their first meeting. That meant that things could only get better, right?

At least, that's what he tried to tell himself as he waved goodbye to his friends and walked to class.

* * *

Antonio wasn't sure if he was surprised, or if he had been expecting it when he found Lovino wedged into the same corner of the cafeteria where he'd always sat. On one hand, now that the lunch schedule had been rearranged, the tables were no longer overflowing and there was no need to sit on the floor. On the other hand, Lovino was far from the type to voluntarily join a group of people to eat with.

Antonio hesitated, food tray in hand, chewing anxiously on his lip as he spotted the Freshman. He let out a small breath before pulling a smile onto his face and walking over to where the young teenager sat.

"Hey, Lovino," Antonio said , smiling awkwardly when he reached his mentee. Lovino stiffened and looked up warily at the Senior standing over him, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What do you want, bastard?" he asked harshly and took a violent bite out of his lunch - one that he had brought himself, Antonio noticed.

"I was wondering if I could eat with you," Antonio replied, holding up his lunch tray a little higher. "I thought maybe you'd like some company."

"Well, I don't," Lovino glared back, his already relatively thick accent even more garbled through his mouthful of food.

Antonio shifted his weight from foot to foot before uncomfortably asking, "Would it be alright if I ate with you anyway?" Lovino grunted but didn't answer, focusing his attention back to his food, which was a microwavable bowl of pasta and two whole tomatoes. Antonio took that as a yes and lowered himself against the wall next to Lovino, keeping a careful distance between them. They sat in strained silence for a few moments as they ate. Antonio's eyes darted around them, searching for a topic of conversation before he finally settled on: "I take it you don't like the school food," Antonio grinned weakly, nodding his head towards the bowl of pasta in Lovino's hands.

"The shit the school serves doesn't even qualify as food," Lovino snorted. "It's lucky there's always enough leftover pasta at my house to feed the entire Italian army, or I'd starve to death."

Antonio laughed. "I can't disagree with you there," he agreed with faux sadness as he put another forkful of school food into his mouth. He glanced at Lovino's two tomatoes, which looked as though they were being saved for desert. "I take it you like tomatoes?"

"No shit. What clued you in, dumbass?" Lovino grumbled, his face turning just the slightest shade of pink.

"I love them too! They're my favorite!" Antonio beamed in response. He barely moved his hands an inch towards the fruit before Lovino defensively scooped them up and moved them to the other side of himself, out of Antonio's reach.

"Oh, no you don't, bastard," Lovino glared at him. "No way in hell am I giving you my tomatoes."

"Not even one?" Antonio pouted.

"No," Lovino snapped, grabbing one of the red fruits again and pointedly taking a large bite out of it.

"You're no fun," Antonio whined, dejectedly eating another mouthful of his own food. For whatever reason, after that, the slight flush on Lovino's face drained away and the young teen stared soberly at his hands. "Uh, actually I have a question for you."

"What?" Lovino turned his eyes towards Antonio without turning his head, his frown a bit deeper than usual.

"Well," Antonio said, "I was wondering if there was any time in the day that it _was _okay for me to call you out of class. Without you yelling at me again."

Lovino scowled and pulled his knees to his chest, much like the last time they talked, and brought his tomato almost defensively in front of his mouth. "I don't want you to call me out at all, bastard," he said, his voice muffled by the red fruit.

Antonio set his tray of food beside him and pulled one of his own knees to his chest and laid his forehead against it. He ran a hand through his hair and turned his head on his knee to look at Lovino and sighed, "Lovino. You know I have to see you at least once a week outside class. If I don't, I'm sure the Dean will start asking questions."

"You're seeing me _now_, aren't you bastard?" Lovino glowered.

"Somehow, I don't think this counts," Antonio huffed. "C'mon. There isn't a _single _period in your day you'd like to skip or something?"

"Persistent bastard," Lovino growled under his breath, so quietly Antonio almost missed it. "Fine," Lovino said more loudly, "I have an open period at the end of each day. I think it says 'Media' on my schedule because I usually just sit and read in the Media Center."

Antonio blinked in surprise. The school almost never gave free periods to students. But, then again, Antonio suspected the school had made Lovino the exception since he was new to both the school and the country. "Okay," Antonio hummed, thinking of his own schedule for the week. "I think I can get out of that class on Thursday or Friday…so see you in the Library then?"

Lovino grumbled again in response and took another large chomp into his tomato. Antonio grinned and took the opportunity to slide his feet under himself and prop himself up just enough to reach over Lovino and make a grab for the second tomato. Lovino let out an enraged little noise through his mouthful of tomato and snatched up the red fruit before Antonio could reach it. Lovino kneed Antonio in the chest to push him away, sprawling the Senior onto his side in front of the younger.

Antonio burst into laughter and propped himself up with his elbow. Lovino glared angrily at him, red faced and holding the two tomatoes protectively to his chest. Antonio was surprised to find that Lovino's red face was almost… endearing. "You," Antonio said through his giggles, "look just like a tomato."

Lovino's face turned a deeper red. "I do not, bastard!" Lovino sputtered and kicked Antonio. Antonio just laughed again and pulled himself up to sit back against the wall, picking up his own lunch and placing it back onto his lap.

"You know what they say about that river in Egypt," Antonio teased, which earned him another insult and an angry shove.

* * *

The rest of the week went by fairly easily. Each day at lunch, Antonio would join Lovino, who always brought his own lunch from that point on. Which always consisted of at least one or two tomatoes. There were still awkward moments as they ate together, but each day it got easier. Antonio would talk about pointless things, and Lovino would reply in cranky grunts and short sentences. Antonio had also made a few more failed attempts at stealing Lovino's tomatoes, much to the latter's annoyance. While Antonio would admit that the two of them were still a far cry from being best friends, or even really _friends _at all (more along the lines of school acquaintances, really), he no longer found himself constantly dreading seeing his mentee. So when Friday rolled around and it was time for Antonio to meet up with Lovino in the Library during the last hour of the day, he wasn't anxious. It was a nice change from the previous week to say the least.

Antonio packed his school bag at his locker and slung it over his shoulder before making his way to the Library. Since he wouldn't be heading to any class after meeting with Lovino, he figured he'd have his things packed and ready to go by time the bell rang - hopefully he could start his weekend a few minutes early. Antonio hoped Lovino hadn't minded eating by himself earlier. Antonio had had to skip lunch to talk to one of his teachers, but he had figured since he was meeting up with his mentee later in the day, Lovino wouldn't mind. Besides, it wasn't as though Lovino ever showed much enthusiasm about eating lunch with his mentor.

But the moment Antonio stepped into the Media Center, he instantly doubted his convictions. Lovino was seated in one of the reading chairs in the back of the library, holding a design magazine in his hands but obviously not reading it, if the stillness of his eyes was anything to go by. His eyebrows were pulled precariously low over his hazel eyes, which were slightly bloodshot and framed by faint, but noticeable bags. His customary scowl was painted severely darker than usual, and Antonio could almost _see_ the boy's foul atmosphere rolling off him in thick, dangerous waves.

Needless to say, Lovino didn't appear to be in a very good mood.

Antonio stopped in the library doorway and closed his eyes for a brief moment, letting out a deep breath and barely convincing his feet to not carry him right back out the library doors. He opened his eyes and reluctantly made his way over to where the dangerously moody teenager sat 'reading' his magazine.

"Hey, Lovino," Antonio greeted nervously.

Lovino jumped and hastily looked up from his magazine. Seeing Antonio, Lovino's eyes narrowed and he looked moodily back to his periodical. "What, bastard?"

Antonio lowered himself into the chair next to Lovino, setting his backpack on the floor next to him. "It's Friday. I told you I was going to come see you this period, remember?"

Lovino grunted and sharply flicked to the next page of his magazine.

"Sorry I wasn't there at lunch," Antonio began apprehensively. "I had to meet up with a teacher." Lovino made another noncommittal little sound and turned another page in his magazine. "You're not mad at me are you?"

"No."

"…Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, stupid, annoying, tomato thieving bastard, " Lovino growled, harshly dropping his magazine onto his lap.

Well, that wasn't all that reassuring. "You _sure, _sure?" Antonio asked again.

"_Yes, I'm sure_. God, you're annoying. I wasn't mad at you before, but you're seriously starting to piss me off _now_," Lovino snapped.

Antonio sighed and leaned back against the plush backrest of his chair, fidgeting. He still wasn't convinced, but knew better than to push his luck by asking again. Really, was it that bad that his missed one stupid lunch? He didn't even think Lovino would care. Frustrated, he asked, "Is there something else wrong, then?"

Lovino's muscles stiffened and a flare of emotion flickered over his face so quickly, Antonio wondered if he hadn't imagined it all together. But as instantly as it had come, it was gone and Lovino tersely replied, "No."

Antonio looked up at the ceiling and sighed again. He turned his head back towards Lovino and with a tired smile that he hoped looked sympathetic, he said, "Obviously there is. Want to talk about it?"

"_Merda,_ if you're going to be this annoying, just go away." Lovino angrily reopened his magazine and glared at its pages.

"Lovino…" Antonio frowned and rubbed his eyes. "Well, I can't _make _you tell me what's wrong - and don't even go there, because there obviously is; you look like someone stole your wallet and made confetti out of a picture of your dead puppy - but you know nothing's going to get better if you just avoid the problem. If it's me just tell me. And if it's something else maybe I can help."

Lovino let out a frustrated growl and dropped his head into his fisted hands, the magazine crinkling in front of his face. "For the last time, I'm not mad at you, bastard! How pathetic do you think I am, thinking I'd get mad just because you didn't come to lunch?" Lovino spat the words painfully and suddenly Antonio regretted thinking it at all. Lovino's shoulders slumped and hid his face deeper into his magazine. His next words came out pitifully weak. "I just… I got into a fight with my grandpa, okay?"

Antonio felt familiar anxiety ripple in his stomach. He abruptly wished that he _was _the problem. How was he supposed to respond to family problems? What could he say? He didn't know the situation, or even if Lovino was on the right or wrong side of the fight. He struggled to find words to reply with, but Lovino cut into his rising panic before he could.

"Look, don't even think about, okay bastard?" Lovino removed his face from his magazine and Antonio noticed that his cheeks and eyes had both grown a bit red.

"…Is there anything I can do?" Antonio finally said. Pathetically, he realized, with a twinge to his gut.

"Just shut up about it and talk about something else."

Antonio nodded in understanding. He tried his best for the rest of the hour to find topics that might cheer his mentee up, but he could hear how flat his own voice sounded behind his smile. Thankfully, Lovino didn't point it out, but even his own snappy replies had less bite and more exhaustion in them.

For the first time, Antonio worried that maybe Lovino's troublesome personality wasn't the only challenge he would face during the coming year.

* * *

Lovino felt bad. As much as he tried to convince himself he didn't, he knew he did. He could still hear Antonio's stupid, flat, sad sounding voice in his head even after he shut himself up in his room, hours after school had ended. That face looked too unnatural and that voice sounded too weird without a smile.

He huffed and flopped down on his bed, looking up blankly at his ceiling. What should he care if he made that stupid bastard frown, though? It's not like he was even friends with the guy. Hell, he hardly even knew him. So why the hell was he actually so disappointed when the annoying jerk hadn't shown up for lunch? It was pathetic, just like Lovino had said earlier, himself. But he did know. And somehow that made it so much worse. He knew he'd been counting on the bastard to take his mind off his fight with his grandpa. He knew that's why he was so upset when he wasn't there to make it happen.

And it was selfish. He knew he was just using Antonio as a distraction from his own problems. He was treating him like nothing but a tool. No matter how much Lovino didn't even want to be in the stupid program, he knew he was being unfair by taking out his problems on Antonio. But he could never seem to control his mood, no matter how hard he tried. It was no wonder he had no friends.

His chest felt hollow. He curled in around himself and sucked in the biggest breath he could, trying vainly to fill the empty numbness behind his ribs. When he felt like his lungs would burst from too much air, he gulped down one last mouthful of air, making his chest feel so tight he was almost convinced it would rip right open. When he couldn't hold it in any longer, he let go of his breath in a loud, breathy gasp and unrolled himself to lay flat on his back, dizzy and lightheaded.

But the hollow feeling was still there.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this is up a bit later than normal. Life has been a bit hectic lately with me getting ready to move into my house near the University next week. I hope I can continue to regularly post, but the next few weeks will be a little crazy until I can figure out my new schedule between work and school. Hopefully I can have everything figured out and get on a new schedule fairly quickly. Until then, I'll do my best at posting as often as I can!**

**As always, thank you for reading and for your feedback~**

* * *

"Thank you for coming to see me today, Antonio. I hope I didn't call you out of class at a bad time."

"Not at all, sir," Antonio replied, bowing his head respectfully. Antonio fidgeted uneasily in his seat across from the Dean. He'd really not been expecting the sudden call out of class down the Middle School office, and his mind had quickly jumped to everything he could have possibly done wrong to land himself in this situation. Really, he'd been doing everything he was supposed to for the program, right? "Is… is there something wrong, exactly?"

The Dean breathed out through his nose and leaned back in his chair. He took a sip from his coffee mug before saying, "I'd like to talk about your mentee, Mr. Vargas."

"Ah, okay." Antonio played with the hem of his shirt nervously. Had the air conditioning stopped working in the office? It felt warmer than usual.

"No need to be nervous, Son," the Dean smiled kindly, putting his mug gently back down on the table before folding his hands together. "I just wanted to check up on how things were going. Has there been any improvement for Lovino?"

"Oh. Um, yeah," Antonio answered, his nervousness receding a bit. "He gets a bit…um…_friendlier_ every time I see him," he continued, struggling to find the best words. _Friendly_ wasn't really the word that fit the sour tempered Italian the best, but somehow, that was the only word Antonio's mind would supply. Unfortunately, Antonio couldn't honestly say that Lovino seemed _happier _yet.

"I see," the Dean frowned slightly in thought. "That's good to hear, but I -as well as Lovino's teachers - have been concerned because he hasn't been showing any sign of progress in the classroom, though It's already been nearly a month since school started. He hasn't even spoken any English yet."

"What?" Antonio blurted, bewildered. "He's been speaking plenty of English to _me_." He decided to leave out the fact that usually Lovino just used it to insult him.

"Has he?" the Dean asked, his eyebrows almost reaching the line of his receding hair, shock evident in his voice. "Well, this is news to me! He certainly hasn't been making the effort for anyone else." The Dean paused for a moment before asking, "Does he struggle with English? Might it be he's insecure about using it around most people because he cannot speak it well?"

Antonio shook his head. "No. He speaks it perfectly fine. I mean, yeah, he's got an accent, but it's not like you can't understand him."

"Hmm," the Dean lowered his chin to his folded fingers, eyebrows furrowing back down over his eyes. "Did you do anything in particular that got him to speak for you?"

_I pissed him off_, Antonio thought sheepishly before shrugging. "I don't know. I don't think so?" He hesitated before adding, "I think… I think he's just using the language thing as an excuse to not talk to people." Antonio bit his lip anxiously as soon as the words left his mouth. He wasn't betraying Lovino's trust by saying things like this, right? Antonio was _supposed_ to tell the Dean these things. That was the point of the whole program. So why did he suddenly feel so guilty about saying anything?

"Hmm," the Dean brought his hand to his mouth, the corners of his mouth pulling down in thought. "That is highly likely." The man sighed and said, "Hopefully if he has opened up this much to you, he'll learn to open up more to his teachers and classmates." Antonio refrained from mentioning that even after all the time he'd spent with the Freshmen, he really still felt he had no clue what was going on in the boy's head. Honestly, 'opening up' was the last thing Antonio would have used to describe Lovino's progress. Or lack thereof. "Well," the Dean continued with a small huff, "if anything, it'd be nice to get Lovino to stop writing all his assignments in Italian, so we can at least know he's understanding lessons."

Antonio almost choked on a burst of laughter, barely managing to pass the embarrassing noise as a loud cough. He had to give Lovino credit - at least the boy could be hilarious while being a stubborn brat. "Ah, well, I'll see what I can do," Antonio replied after recovering from his 'coughing' fit.

"Thank you," the Dean smiled and nodded. "Oh, and don't forget, the next Breakfast is tomorrow - we couldn't do it today, the first Monday this month, because of some scheduling conflicts with a sports team who wanted the cafeteria today." Antonio nodded, remembering the email he'd gotten the night before that had said the same thing. "Well, that's all I wanted to discuss with you," the Dean said, picking up his coffee mug again. "Have a good rest of the school day."

* * *

Antonio nearly had to drag Lovino into the Middle School cafeteria the next morning, Lovino cursing the entire way in and Antonio shushing him, glancing worriedly at the Dean and councilors in the room, hoping the hadn't heard Lovino's lovely vocabulary. With a loud huff, Lovino gave up his fight and yanked away from Antonio, stomping over to the table in the far back corner - the same one he'd chosen for the first breakfast. With a sigh Antonio followed, snatching an apple off the front table on the way.

"I hate this. I don't want to be here," Lovino scowled angrily as Antonio sat down beside him.

"Why?" Antonio asked. "It's not so bad. It could be fun if you wanted it to be."

Lovino glowered darkly. "No. It's just stupid."

"At least we get free food!" Antonio smiled, biting into his apple.

"Shitty food," Lovino grumbled.

"Aw, c'mon," Antonio frowned around his mouthful of apple. "You're _trying_ to make this not fun. What's so wrong with skipping class and hanging out?"

Lovino snorted. "Putting up with an extra hour of you."

"Hey," Antonio whined. "Not nice."

"I'm not nice," Lovino said as he crossed his arms and looked out the window.

"But hey, really, why don't you like it?" Antonio pressed, knowing he was likely pushing his luck by not dropping the topic.

Lovino let out an aggravated growl. "_Because_, bastard, I don't like being treated like stupid little kid."

Startled by the Freshmen's response, Antonio didn't reply. He saw Lovino's cheeks redden and instantly felt bad for not noticing Lovino's embarrassment. Of course he would resent being treated like a Middle School student when he most certainly wasn't. Deciding it was best to change topics, he quickly searched for another. "Hey, don't you have a brother in Middle School?"

Lovino's whole body went rigid. "Who told you that, bastard?" he snarled, eyes burning as they glared out the window.

"Um, well," Antonio reeled, taken completely off guard by Lovino's livid response to what he thought was a perfectly innocent question. "I have a good friend who's really involved in the art department who mentioned him."

Antonio could hear Lovino's teeth gritting in his mouth before the boy managed to work out a tense, "oh."

"You…don't like your brother?" Antonio asked carefully, not wanting to be yelled at again, but sensing that this was a topic that shouldn't be easily ignored.

Lovino turned to look at him in disbelief. "What? Of course I like my brother," Lovino said incredulously. "He's fricking perfect. How could I hate him? I love him."

Antonio chewed on the inside of his lip, confused by Lovino's sudden onslaught of words. "So… you're jealous of him?"

Lovino's shoulders tensed, if possible, even more. "No," he spat before his whole body seamed to wilt and he continued tiredly, "I just…I know when I'm beat, okay?"

Antonio frowned and opened his mouth to say something - what, he didn't know. Deny the boy's claims? Encourage him? Ask him why he thought so? But he never got the chance to say anything.

"May I have everyone's attention please," the Dean's voice cut through Antonio's attempted reply. Both he and Lovino looked to where the man was talking into the loudspeaker at the other side of the large room. "I hope you're all having a good breakfast," the Dean said politely. A few enthusiastic kids cheered happily and the man smiled before saying, "Good to hear! Now I'm sure you've all been wondering when you'd get to go on a field trip! Well, we have good news! We have a fun trip planned for next Friday! We'll be taking you all to the Skating Rink in the cities. Sound fun?" A few more happy cheers. "Good! Please pick up a permission slip on this table here on your way out today and have it signed by your parents or guardians to turn in by this Friday! Thank you for your attention, you can go back to your delicious breakfasts!"

"Oh, that'll be fun!" Antonio beamed as the Dean turned off his microphone.

"It sounds awful," Lovino grimaced, looking disgusted. "Why would they take us ice skating when it's not even winter?"

"I think it's a roller skating rink," Antonio replied, still smiling. "I think I've been to it with my friends when I was younger. It was a lot of fun!"

"It's still gunna suck," grumbled Lovino, his cheeks darkening when Antonio ruffled his hair.

"Only if you think it will," Antonio said brightly, already excited about the trip. "But hey, let's get you something to eat," he continued, pulling himself up from the stool connected to the table. "And don't give me that look. At least the fruit's okay."

* * *

Lovino glared accusingly at the permission form in his hands as he stood outside the door of his house. Damn field trip for making him go out of his way to talk to his grandpa. Damn program for treating him like a little kid. Damn Antonio for not _shutting up _about the stupid thing during lunch. Damn everything.

Grumbling a slew of curses under his breath he opened the door and walked in, dropping his backpack roughly on the floor. He was immediately disappointed when Feliciano didn't come running to greet him like he usually did. As he made his way to the kitchen, form in hand he remembered his brother mentioning something before school about staying late to work on an art project. Lovino frowned deeper and leaned against the kitchen counter. Great. That meant he'd have to talk to his grandpa without Feliciano being there to get the old man's attention away from Lovino right afterwards. He briefly considered putting off asking for his grandpa's signature until after Feliciano was back, but begrudgingly admitted to himself that if he did that he'd forget to ask for the signature all together. He groaned at allowed himself the luxury of a quick tomato for a snack before trudging his way to his grandpa's office. He hesitated outside the door, sighed, reminded himself this was inevitable, and knocked on the door.

"You can come in," Lovino heard his grandpa's, Roma's, distracted voice through the door. Breathing one last little sigh, Lovino tightened his grip on the permission form and eased the door open. Roma was sitting at his desk with a calculator and scratching away at his notepad. He didn't even glance over at Lovino before asking, "Is there something you needed, Lovino?"

Even though he'd been disappointed Feliciano wouldn't be there to provide a distraction for his grandpa, Lovino felt a sharp twinge of annoyance at the fact that Roma hadn't even bothered looking away from his work as Lovino walked in. He was certain that if it were Feliciano walking into Roma's office, the man would have put down everything and given his full attention to his 'cute little grandson.'

"Yeah," Lovino answered, barely keeping his annoyance from his voice. "I need you to sign something for me."

Roma sighed and set down his pencil, before turning his swivel chair to face his grandson. "Did you get in trouble?"

"What? No, dammit," Lovino snapped. _Of course_ that would be the first conclusion his grandpa would jump to.

"Watch you language," Roma said, eyes flashing dangerously. "Now, what do you need my signature for?"

"The stupid mentor-mentee thing has a field trip coming up and I need your permission for it," Lovino answered, glowering as he held the paper out to his grandfather.

Roma took the paper from Lovino's hand and read it over quickly before scribbling his name on the bottom and handing it back. "Is that all you needed?"

Lovino just nodded sharply and quickly left the room, closing the door harder than necessary as he left. After stuffing the permission slip back into his backpack, he stomped up the stairs and to his room. He immediately began digging through his belongings for his MP3 player. He _hated _talking to his grandpa. In some way or another, Roma always managed to work in how Lovino wasn't good enough. Lovino was always wrong, always in trouble, always inadequate. He was never as good as Feliciano. Everyone always thought Feliciano was better. Feliciano was the good one, the likable one. No one ever even _liked _Lovino. Even Lovino knew Feliciano was better. And that somehow made it worse because he couldn't even blame other people for thinking it too.

Finding his music player, Lovino shoved the ear buds in and dropped heavily back onto his bed. With a sharp pang, he remembered even Antonio bringing up his brother. If the senior had heard about his brother already, then he must already have heard about how amazing he was. Lovino ground his teeth against each other as he turned the MP3 player on and scrolled through his music. Perfect. Just fricking perfect. Yet another person in his life who would undoubtedly fall head over heels for his perfect little brother.

But, Lovino reminded himself as he chose a pretty band from back home in Italy, at least the stupid smiling bastard hadn't actually met his brother yet. Maybe if he could prevent that from happening, it wouldn't be so bad. Yeah, that could work. Feeling slightly reassured, he tried to focus on the soothing sounds of the music. Italian always sounded so much prettier than English. English was too harsh and guttural and sounded too similar to German.

Lovino forced his muscles to relax into his soft bed and centered his attention to the flowing music, allowing himself to sing softly along. The steady hum his vocal chords created in his chest relaxed his body even more. This he could handle. Just this. Just now. If he only focused on this for now he could make himself deal with everything else later.

Because at least the humming vibrations near his lungs were enough to convince the empty feeling that always lingered in his chest to feel whole for a little while.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for such a late update. Since I moved, I was out of internet for a while; I only just got internet running now! Thank you for your patience! **

**As always, thank you so much for any reviews/feedback!**

* * *

I'm so excited!"

"I know you are, bastard."

"But I mean, _really _excited! I can't wait!"

"I _know_. Shut _up._"

"No, but seriously, I haven't been there in ages. We're so close now, and the closer we get the more excited I get!"

Lovino groaned and let his head fall onto the bus window. "I swear to God if you don't shut up right now, I'm shoving you out the goddamn window." Antonio looked like he was about to say more, but Lovino pointedly took his MP3 from his pocket and shoved the ear buds in.

Antonio pouted. "Hey, don't be like that. This field trip is supposed to be fun. Don't ruin it by being all angry."

"I'm not. You're ruining it by being an annoying bastard," Lovino snorted, ignoring the fact that he was ignoring Antonio. The bus suddenly halted, which caused Lovino's head to bounce against the window with a lovely _smack_. Lovino swore loudly as the bus intercom came on.

"Okay everybody, we're here!" the Dean's voice rang gallingly loudly through the bus. Lovino rubbed his head bitterly, scowling as all the little kids cheered. "You can all exit the bus in an orderly fashion now! Have a fun day!"

"Once we get inside, I have to show you all the things they have," Antonio said excitedly as he stood up, shrugging his backpack onto his shoulders. "If I remember right, there's this one arcade game, that I used to play with my friend Gilbert, that lets you shoot at these giant booger alien things."

Lovino wrinkled his nose. "Oh goodie."

* * *

"So, what do you wanna do first?" Antonio asked, setting his backpack down on an empty table inside the building.

"Go home?" Lovino suggested.

"Oh, don't start that," Antonio said, annoyed. "C'mon, let's have fun! How about we go get some roller blades and skate for a while first?" Lovino looked like he was about to say something, but then just nodded jerkily and let Antonio lead him over to where the skate rental booth was. "What size are you?"

After they both got their roller blades, Antonio led (or rather, dragged) Lovino over to the edge of the rink. "You know how to skate right?" Antonio asked as he pulled the roller blades over his feet.

"Of course I do, bastard," Lovino scowled. "I just… haven't done it in a while, so I might be a little shaky at it."

"You don't know how to skate?" Antonio reiterated, amused. Lovino flushed scarlet and muttered something incoherent. Antonio grinned and said, "We can stay by the wall then, so you can use it as a balance."

"I don't need a balance," Lovino snapped and roughly pulled on his own skates. Snapping the buckles on them, he added, "But we can stay by the wall so we don't get mowed over by all the damn little kids."

"Of course," Antonio said, turning away from Lovino so the boy couldn't see his knowing smile. "Okay, you ready?" Lovino nodded and shakily took a step towards the rink entrance, wobbling dangerously. Antonio bit back a giggle and grasped the Freshman's forearm to steady him. "I can help you, you know."

Lovino shook his head, his eyebrows screwed down over his irises in concentration. "I can do it, bastard," he grumbled, jerking his arm away from Antonio, and teetering over to the rink wall. He leaned against the wall and took a few wobbly steps around the edge of the rink.

"It helps if you push off the ground like this," Antonio said, demonstrating, "rather than trying to take actual steps like you're doing."

Lovino's lower lip stuck out in concentration as he tried mimicking Antonio's movements. Which unfortunately only led him to lose his balance completely. He yelped and toppled to his knees before Antonio could reach out and catch him in time. Lovino's cheeks flushed dark and he glared accusingly at Antonio as he used the wall to pull himself back up.

"That didn't work at all, bastard," Lovino snapped, his cheeks growing darker by the second.

Antonio struggled against the laugh that was trying to bubble its way out of his throat. "No, no, that was the right idea," he reassured the younger. "Just next time, try to balance your weight on the foot that you're pushing with."

* * *

Over the course of the next hour, after a lot of falls, a plethora of cursing, and a few uncontained giggling fits from Antonio, Lovino managed to get skilled enough to skate without using the wall constantly - though he was definitely still shaky at it. Antonio had been making laps around the rink on his own, while keeping an eye on Lovino, and before he knew it, his mentee was no longer at the rink walls and completely out of his sight.

"Lovino?" Antonio called out over the loud music and children in the rink. No response. Frowning, Antonio tried calling again. Still no response. Starting to worry, he skated his was around the rink a few times, searching for his mentee, but with no luck.

Getting nervous, Antonio made his way off the rink and into the arcade area of the building. Still no luck. He skated over to bathrooms. Nope. Really starting to worry, he checked the table where they had left their belongings when they came in. To his relief, Lovino sat at the table, his usual scowl pulled over his face as he watched the skaters on the rink. Sighing, Antonio skated to the table and sat heavily across from Lovino. Lovino turned his head towards him in surprise.

"Why did you leave?" Antonio asked, frowning.

"Because skating is bullshit," Lovino scowled.

"You could have at least told me you were leaving the rink," Antonio said. "I looked all over for you."

"Well, you were in the middle of that huge mob of skaters," Lovino snapped. "I would have been plowed over if I tried."

Antonio sighed in annoyance. "Well okay." He frowned and added, "But we should really have a way to get a hold of each other in case of things like this."

"Where are you going with this, bastard?" Lovino asked warily.

"I think we should have each other's phone numbers," Antonio replied simply.

"No. No goddamn way." Lovino said loudly. "I get enough of you as it is. The last thing I need is for you to be calling me when you're not around."

Antonio sighed again. "Okay, fine." An awkward pause. "Well, do you want to do something else then? We still have a few hours here." Lovino just shrugged evasively. Antonio frowned and hummed, thinking. "How about we play some laser tag? Gilbert and I used to play that when we came here, and it's a lot of fun!"

"That's what you said about skating, too, bastard," Lovino said in response.

"Well, this time we'll be on our own two feet," Antonio replied, shrugging. "Let's just do it. Just one game; it'll be fun!"

"No," Lovino groaned, "Can't we just wait here until we go home? I'm already sick of the damn trip."

Frustrated, Antonio tried again. "Lovino, I already told you, this trip will be as fun or not fun as you want it to be. So try to make it fun. And that means playing laser tag with me!"

"I don't care about your damn cliché motivational speeches," Lovino spat. "I don't want to do it!"

"If you play _one _round of laser tag with me, I swear I'll let you decide what we do for the rest of the day," Antonio bargained.

Lovino narrowed his eyes suspiciously."Then you'll stop pestering me afterwards? You won't beg me to do anything else like an annoying prick? _Promise_?"

"I Promise."

Lovino sighed, defeated. "Fine. But only one round."

* * *

Somehow, it ended up being two against ten.

"This is so not fair," Lovino growled as he pulled the laser vest over his head. "We're not _that_ much older than the rest of them."

"Ah well, it'll be fun this way. More of a challenge!" Antonio laughed as he made sure his own vest was on securely before pulling the headset on.

"There's no way we'll win against ten people," Lovino muttered, taking his laser gun from his vest pocket into his hand.

"It doesn't matter if we win or not," Antonio said, smiling. "As long as it's fun, who cares?"

Antonio could see Lovino was about to complain again when he was interrupted by the door of the laser tag room opening.

"Are you two ready?" the worker asked. "The other team is all ready to go, so if you are, we'll go ahead and start up the system so the game can start."

"Yeah, we're ready," Antonio replied, holding up his gun.

"Good," the worker nodded. "You know the rules right? If you get shot, your headset will make an exploding sound, and you'll have to go the back of the arena to one of the black medical boxes to recharge the gun before you're able to shoot again. Other than that, play nice, be careful, and don't cross the line into enemy territory." The worker nodded to the two of them one more time before opening the door to the gaming arena. "All right! Have fun you two!"

Inside the arena was completely dark, save for some blacklights overhead and the glowing rims of their vests and the walls that made up the mazelike battleground.

"We're on the red side of the arena," Antonio yelled over to Lovino, over the loud music and gun noises. Lovino nodded. "All right, let's go!"

Antonio crouched behind a wall and quickly began making his way up to the border between enemy lines. Behind him, he heard Lovino swear loudly and stomp to the back of the arena - apparently, he'd already been shot. Antonio giggled and continued crawling his way closer to the other team.

Only a few minutes into the game, Antonio was beginning to realize they were fighting a battle impossible to win. He and Lovino had managed to rack up a few points shooting at the enemy team, but they'd spent more time recharging their guns after getting shot than doing any shooting at all. And with the game being only ten minutes long, they were quickly losing any chance of catching up before time ran out.

"This is so stupid," Lovino said loudly over the noise, after they had both been shot and needed to recharge at the same time.

"It _is_ kind of impossible," Antonio agreed, holding his gun to the medical box to recharge.

"There's too many of them," Lovino complained. "They just keep shooting in all directions. I can't even move without being shot!"

"Hey, I have an idea," Antonio said. "Instead of going in separate directions, this time we should go together to get near the other team. That way we can watch each other's back to see if we're being shot from behind. At least then we can get close to them. I can barely get halfway there before being shot."

Lovino looked for a moment like he might protest, but instead sighed, rolled his eyes, and nodded. "This better work, bastard."

The plan actually did work pretty well. Slowly, the two made their way to the border between sides. Once they, amazingly, made it to the dividing wall, they quickly hunkered down behind it.

"Now what, bastard?" Lovino asked, looking around. "This still doesn't' change the fact that we can't move an inch to shoot."

"How about if I move this way to shoot," Antonio suggested, gesturing vaguely, "and you move that way, we can throw them off and get in a few shots."

"Wait, what? Bastard, be more specific!"

"Okay go!"

Antonio leapt forward and began shooting his gun and the same time Lovino did. The two crashed painfully into each other, their guns and vests tangling. Antonio couldn't suppress a surprised yelp as they stumbled and crashed down over the dividing wall, bringing the whole flimsy thing down with them.

Groaning, Antonio rolled away from Lovino, barely managing to get their equipment untangled, and rubbed his head. Beside him, Lovino pushed himself up while cursing the whole time.

Antonio couldn't help it - he burst out laughing.

"Oh that went _perfectly_, bastard," Lovino snorted. But Antonio could see the corners of the young boy's mouth quirking. He was fighting it. Oh, he was fighting it, Antonio could tell. And apparently losing. The boy's mouth cracked into a smile and a few short laughs burst from his mouth.

The lights of the arena switched on as the game ended. They lost horribly, Antonio noted and the stood up and propped the wall back up before they left. But it was worth it.

Because, Antonio realized, it made Lovino smile for the first time since Antonio had known him. Smile and even _laugh_. And it was because of Antonio.

And it was one of the best feelings Antonio had ever had.

* * *

"I can't believe after all that, we still lost," Lovino grumbled as the two sat at their table, eating their bagged lunches.

"Well, we kind of knew from the start we would lose," Antonio said, smiling sympathetically. "But it still sucks! We should at least get a conciliation prize for the effort." Lovino muttered in agreement and pulled his usual two tomatoes from his lunch bag. "Oooh, could I have a delicious tomato as my prize?" Antonio teased.

Lovino rolled his eyes. "Sure. Whatever, bastard," he said and rolled one of the tomatoes towards Antonio.

"Whoa, seriously?" Antonio said, shocked. "This is the first time you've actually let me have one of your tomatoes!" Antonio beamed at the boy.

"D-don't over think it, bastard," Lovino snapped weakly, his face darkening with his usual blush. "I'm just not very hungry today."

"Oh, of course," Antonio replied, smiling as he took a bit into the delicious red fruit.

* * *

"I changed my mind. You can have it, bastard."

"Have what?" Antonio asked curiously as he sat down on the bus seat next to Lovino for the ride back to school.

"My phone number," Lovino answered, refusing to look at Antonio's face. "You're right. We'll probably need to get a hold of each other sometimes."

Antonio felt his face pull into a bright smile. "That's great, Lovi!" he exclaimed happily as he pulled out his phone.

"It's not that big of a deal, bastard," Lovino snapped, cheeks already turning red. "And I told you not to call me that, damn bastard. You know what, forget it, I changed my mind again. You can't have it."

"Aww, come on Lovino," Antonio said, his smile dropping instantly. "I'm sorry. Really. Can I still have your number? Please?"

"Ugh, whatever," Lovino sighed in exasperation. "I'll give you mine now and you can text me later so I can have yours, then."

"Okay! Thanks, Lovino!"

* * *

The day was exhausting.

Lovino yawned loudly as he made his way into his bedroom for the night. It was bad enough that Antonio was some sort of energy sucker with all his big smiles and goofy grins, but then of course he had to come home to Feliciano's big smiles and goofy grins. Why was he surrounded by these kinds of people?

Lovino crawled into his bed just in time for his phone to beep at him. Groaning lightly, he reached over to his bedside table and picked the phone off it. One new text from an unknown number. Frowning in confusion, he opened the text.

**Unknown number:  
Sent at 10:43**

**Hey, Lovino! Sorry I didn't text you sooner! I almost forgot! I hope you had fun today :D**

**-Antonio**

Lovino snorted as he read the message. In all honesty, he'd forgotten he was supposed to be getting a reply text from Antonio, too. Rolling his eyes, mostly at himself, he quickly added Antonio to his contacts, but didn't bother replying.

But yes, Lovino begrudgingly admitted to himself, he did have fun.

But he sure as hell wouldn't let Antonio know that.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm back after quite a long delay. Which I'm incredibly sorry for. I went through the trauma of having my laptop die, and only just recently got it back from repairs to continue writing. (It's also nice to be able to do homework at my house again, rather than the University library.) And for all your patience, I thank you a lot.**

**Unfortunately, even now, I'm afraid my updates will be slower than they were over the summer - the University and my job seem to have made it their mission to grind me into the ground with work. But don't worry, I haven't abandoned the story.**

**And as always, thanks a million for your wonderful reviews and responses. They mean so much~**

* * *

"I'm really sorry, Lovino," Antonio said regretfully as he stood next his mentee near the school entrance doors.

"I already told you, it's no big deal," Lovino groaned, exasperated.

"I just feel bad about it," Antonio sighed. That past week, Antonio hadn't been able to find a chance to slip out of class to meet up with Lovino in the Library like usual. His teacher had decided to spring a surprise test on him and he'd been unable to finish with enough time to visit his mentee like he was supposed to. In all honesty, ever since the trip to the skating rink nearly a month ago, it had been getting harder and harder to find time to meet up with his mentee.

"Bastard, you worry too much," Lovino grunted. "Just forget about it, okay? It's not like I never see you."

Antonio chewed on the inside of his lip. "We could go get something to eat after school now, if you want. I've got a car, so I could drive us somewhere," he suggested, before adding, "But it would have to be somewhere cheap. I'm broke."

"Ugh, I'm not eating fast food," Lovino scowled, his nose wrinkling in disgust. "I'll just see you Monday, okay, bastard?"

"Well, all right," Antonio said in resignation. "But if you change your mind, just shoot me a text," he added, to ease his guilty conscience a bit. "I'm free all weekend, so it's not a bother."

Lovino rolled his eyes and snorted. "Whatever, bastard," he replied, waving vaguely as he began walking towards the buses.

Antonio felt the corner of his mouth quirk slightly upwards. "Okay, if you're sure. See you Monday, Lovi," Antonio said, laughing as Lovino flicked him off over his shoulder.

* * *

As much as he loved his family, there were days Lovino wanted nothing more than to squash an over ripe tomato onto their faces.

That night, Feliciano was cooking pasta (as always) and babbling on and on about his fabulous day and his fabulous teachers and his fabulous art while their grandpa hung on every word, praising his favorite grandchild. Lovino sat huffily in his chair at the table, his feet up on his stool and his knees pushing against the table, rocking himself back onto the stool's back two feet. The night was going no different than it normally did, really, but for some reason Lovino found his nerves feeling more grated on than usual, and his normal scowl was about five shades darker than normal.

"That's wonderful, Feli," Roma praised when Feliciano finished telling about his latest accomplishment.

"Thank you!" Feliciano beamed as he turned off the stove and reached for the pasta strainer. "It's just, my art classes are so much fun! And my teacher is so nice, I like to do my best for her!"

"Of course!" Roma grinned back, while Lovino rolled his eyes and reached over his knees for a tomato from the bowl on the counter. "Careful, Lovino," Roma frowned when Lovino leaned back on his stool's back two feet again.

"I'm not stupid," Lovino muttered and took a bite into his fruit. When his grandfather frowned deeper and opened his mouth to say something more, Lovino let out an annoyed grunt and let his chair rock forward onto all four feet. He sent Roma a challenging look. "Better?"

"Ah, hey, Lovi, guess what?" Feliciano said suddenly, in what Lovino guessed was an attempt to distract his brother and grandfather from their rising tensions.

Lovino sighed and turned his attention back to his younger brother. "What?"

"My art class is going to have and art show in the cafeteria on Monday!"

"And I care because?" Lovino responded, ignoring the look he got from Roma.

"Aren't you having another one of your mentor breakfast things?" Feliciano asked, smiling as he started serving up the pasta onto plates. "Our class thought it would be fun to have a showing while you all are there!"

Lovino nearly dropped his tomato. "_What?_"

"That means I'll get to meet Antonio," Feliciano continued happily, oblivious to the look of growing horror on his brother's face. "Won't that be great?"

"Of course not, _idiot_," Lovino balked, a sick feeling leaping horrendously from his stomach through his lungs and into his throat, coiling there in a thick knot that made it difficult to swallow.

"Lovino!" Roma said harshly, "don't talk to your brother like that!"

"B-but," Lovino stammered, trying to find something to say, but struggling since he really had no idea why he was reacting the way he was.

"You don't want me there?" Feliciano asked, visibly deflating.

"No," Lovino choked out past the hard rock in his throat.

"Lovino!" Roma hit his hand heavy against countertop.

"Well, it's not that-" Lovino tried again, before his confusing emotion was washed aside by a flood of anger directed at his grandfather. "You know what, _forget it_!" Lovino yelled, shoving his chair back from the counter. "You always take his side!" he shouted and stormed away from the kitchen.

"Lovino, get back here!" Roma shouted angrily. When Lovino heard his grandfather's chair also move back from the table he broke into a faster pace towards the front door. "Apologize to your brother!"

"No! Leave me alone!" Lovino yelled back, shoving his feet into his shoes. He yanked the front door open and stormed out, slamming the door behind him, before breaking into a sprint down the street.

* * *

Antonio was just about to put a frozen dinner in the microwave when he got the text.

**Lovino:  
Sent at 6:22**

**I changed my mind. Come pick me up. I'm hungry. **

Antonio blinked in surprise as he read the text. Lovino never took him up on previous offers to meet after school. Actually, this was the first time Lovino even bothered to text him since Antonio had given him his number almost a month ago. Biting his lip anxiously, Antonio replied to the text.

**Antonio:  
Sent at 6:24**

**Sure thing! Where do you live? I'll come get you there.**

Lovino's almost instant reply worried Antonio even more.

**Lovino:  
Sent at 6:24**

**I'm not at home. I'm at the park in town. Now hurry up, I'm freezing my ass off.**

Antonio quickly shoved his uncooked dinner back into the freezer, grabbed his wallet, keys, and two jackets before replying:

**Antonio:  
Sent at 6:27**

**All right, I'm on my way!**

* * *

Lovino was sitting on a swing with his back hunched against the wind when Antonio pulled his car into the parking lot by the park. Antonio grabbed the spare jacket he brought, got out of his car and jogged up to his mentee.

"Lovino, why don't you have a coat?" Antonio asked, concerned. He held out the spare jacket to Lovino, but the boy didn't even look up. "Come on, Lovino," Antonio sighed, "It's way too late in the year now to go without a jacket at least."

Lovino shivered, nodded and took the jacket from Antonio, without looking at him. Antonio sighed again and plopped down onto the swing next to Lovino. He gently pushed himself back and forth, feet on the ground. The jangling of the chains seemed loud in the still, cold air.

"Lovino, did something happen?" Antonio asked, looking up at the thick, early November clouds. When his mentee did nothing but shrug vaguely and pull Antonio's borrowed jacket tighter around himself, Antonio just sighed, watching his breath cloud out in front of him. He bit the inside of his cheek, frowning, before he stood up and said, "Well, you were hungry, weren't you? Let's go find some food." He forced a smile back to his face and held his hand out to Lovino.

Finally, Lovino looked up at him, his eyes bloodshot and a little red around the edges of this eyelids. The boy nodded and took his hand, letting Antonio pull him off the swing onto his feet.

"I forgot to bring money," Lovino muttered, looking at his feet.

Antonio shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I'll pay, but it'll have to be somewhere pretty cheap."

"Okay," Lovino said, starting to walk towards Antonio's car. "But no French Fries. Potatoes are fricken' disgusting."

* * *

Antonio rocked back on his heels, listening to the commotion on the other side of the cafeteria doors. The doors were locked, preventing anyone from entering the cafeteria early for the mentor-mentee breakfast, making Antonio wonder what it was they were putting together behind the doors. Because with all that noise, Antonio decided, it must be something pretty cool. He looked around at the continually crowding hallway for Lovino. It was almost time for the breakfast to start, yet his mentee hadn't shown yet. Sure, most of the mentee's would be on the middle school side of the cafeteria doors, but he was sure Lovino would show up on the high school side. Honestly, he was starting to get a little worried. He hadn't heard anything from his mentee since Friday night when he'd bought food for the two of them.

But by time the large cafeteria doors were pushed open by middle school staff, his mentee was nowhere in sight. Shrugging to himself, Antonio curiously peeked into the room. Inside the room, numerous art displays were set up, surrounded by happily nervous middle school students and a few middle school faculty Antonio didn't recognize. Antonio felt a smile pull onto his face as he walked inside, looking at the young students' artworks. As far as artworks go, they weren't anything close to the Mona Lisa, but for middle school students, they were fantastic.

Smiling and complimenting students as he walked to through the cafeteria, Antonio made his way back to the corner where he and Lovino usually sat, hoping to find the surely freshmen there. But when he got a little closer, he noticed a large group of people gathered around a single art stand. Cocking his head curiously, Antonio worked his way through the people, trying to see what everyone was looking at. He had to work pretty hard to push his way through to the front of the mob, but once he did, he found himself staring at one of the best paintings he'd ever seen in person.

"Whoa," Antonio breathed at the painting. Had a _middle school _student really made this? He craned his neck around to find the student who painted it, only to find Lovino instead.

Lovino was surrounded by a group of impressed looking people, and actually _smiling. _And the smile wasn't remotely small or reserved. A little confused, Antonio trotted up to his mentee and patted his shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, Lovino, where were you?"

The younger boy turned around, a confused expression quickly covering up his smile. "Huh? Oh!" Both Antonio and the boy blinked in surprise. Antonio took an awkward step back.

"Ah, sorry," Antonio said, trying to smile apologetically, but still taken aback by the boy's appearance. From afar, he could've _sworn _this boy was Lovino. "I, uh, thought you were someone else."

"Oh, hi!" The boy beamed, a look of comprehension dawning on his face. "You must be Antonio!" The boy said happily, in an all too familiar accent.

"Um. Yeah," Antonio answered, confusion growing by the second. "And you are?"

"Oh, right," the boy laughed apologetically. "I was just so happy to meet you finally, I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Feliciano Vargas! Lovino is my big brother!"

"Oh, _oh,_" Antonio responded stupidly, his confusion quickly vanishing. Of course this was Lovino's younger brother. What else to expect? Francis was always raving about his art talent. "Haha, of course. Sorry about that. You and your brother look a lot alike."

Feliciano giggled. "I know. People are always confus-"

"Hey, _idota,_ what the hell are you doing?"

Antonio whirled around to see an incredibly pissed looking Lovino marching towards them, two apples in his hands.

"Oh, hi Lovino!" Feliciano smiled happily as his brother reached them. "Thanks for getting me an apple!"

"Whatever," Lovino grunted, and tossed one of the apples at his brother, who barely managed to catch it.

"Did you get me one?" Antonio asked, grinning.

"Go get your own damn apple," Lovino snapped.

"Lovi, that's rude!" Feliciano said. "Here, Antonio, you can have mine."

"No!" Lovino snapped, an edge of something other than anger creeping into his voice. "I'll go get another goddamn apple. Here, take this one." Lovino roughly shoved the second apple into Antonio's hands before sulking back towards the food table.

"He's seems to be a bit moodier than usual," Antonio commented, frowning.

"I'm sorry. It's probably because of me," Feliciano sighed.

"Why?" Antonio asked, pouting a little. It was hard to imagine Feliciano being the cause of anyone's anger. From what he had seen so far, this boy was practically an angel incarnate.

"Lovino didn't want me to come," Feliciano answered, his entire body drooping slightly. "I don't think he wanted me to meet you."

"Why not?" Antonio asked, bewildered. Feliciano merely shrugged, but something in his face told Antonio that the eighth grader was keeping something from him. But before he could press the topic, Feliciano suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled him over to his art stand.

"Hey, hey, did you see my art yet?" Feliciano asked, his earlier smile spreading brightly over his face.

"I did," Antonio answered, deciding to drop the topic of Lovino. "It's fantastic! It's one of the best paintings I've ever seen!" Antonio exclaimed in all honesty. Feliciano's responding flush of happiness made Antonio's heart feel warm. It was almost impossible for him to believe that this boy and Lovino were brother's. Lovino was so…well, painfully difficult, if he were to be completely honest, but Feliciano was downright adorable.

Feliciano was happily explaining how he made the painting when Lovino slid back up to them, but Antonio was paying so much attention to Feliciano, he barely noticed. He _did _notice that his mentee was keeping a lot closer to him than normal - almost uncomfortably close - but tried not to focus too much on it. When the breakfast was over, Antonio waved goodbye to the younger Vargas brother, and began to make his way back to the high school, Lovino at his side.

"We should try to hang out with your brother again, sometime, don't you think?" Antonio asked, still smiling as the two walked together.

"No," was all Lovino said, before sharply turning down a different hall, leaving Antonio alone, feeling both confused and a bit guilty, for a reason he couldn't quite place.

* * *

"Oh, hey, guess what," Antonio said while he pulled his backpack from his locker. The day had gone by slowly - especially since Lovino had been extra moody during lunch - and he was beyond ready to go home.

"What?" Gilbert asked, knowing his friend wouldn't continue without the prompt. He'd been rather impatient himself to get out of school.

"I got to meet Lovino's younger brother today," he answered, and turned to his blonde friend, who was also waiting to leave. "You were right, Francis. His art is _crazy _good."

"Isn't it?" Francis agreed, nodding so his long hair fell slightly in front of his face. "I don't think I've met someone so talented as him before."

"He's super nice too," Antonio continued, zipping up his backpack. "It's hard to believe that he and Lovino are related." He hoisted his bag over his shoulders before adding, "Well, other than the fact that they're practically identical -if it weren't for a tiny difference in hair and _huge _difference in personality."

"Brat still being a brat?" Gilbert asked, leaning back against the wall.

"Well, no, not really," Antonio answered. "But he's still kind of hard to get along with." He sighed, barely registering the sudden look of discomfort on his friends' faces before continuing, "Actually, he's honestly still a pain sometimes. It's too bad he's not more like his brother."

"Um, _mon cher,_" Francis muttered awkwardly as Gilbert cleared his throat uncomfortably, turning the other way and scratching the back of his neck.

"What?" Antonio asked, thrown off by his friends' sudden change in demeanor. Francis merely pointed behind Antonio in response. Confused, Antonio turned around and nearly felt his stomach drop into his feet.

Lovino was standing in the hall with a shell-shocked expression on his face, his arms limp.

"L-Lovino, I," Antonio tried, as Lovino's own mouth opened and closed a few times, before his broken expression turned livid.

"_Fuck you!_"

Before Antonio could say anything in response, Lovino spun on his heel and sprinted the other way, leaving Antonio standing behind, feeling more appalled with himself than he'd ever been before - because in that short moment before Lovino's expression had turned livid, Antonio had witnessed the single most catastrophic expression he'd ever experienced.

And it was Antonio's own fault.

* * *

Lovino's legs burned as he sprinted down the street away from the school. He didn't care that he was miles away from his house and would take hours to make it home on foot. He didn't care that it was still too cold outside and he still didn't have a jacket. He didn't care about the fact that Feliciano would be worried that he wasn't on the bus.

All he cared about was escaping the crash of emotions that were demolishing the inside of his chest. The sickening betrayal he felt. The blinding white anger. The horrible feeling of _acceptance_ because he knew something like this was bound to happen anyway.

All those emotions threatened to force their way out in a violent burst, but even so, Lovino focused all his attention to them, forcing those emotions to build up even stronger.

Because as bad as those emotions felt, they still felt better than the sick, raw feeling of hurt.


End file.
